"A self-contained executable cannot be referenced by a non self-contained executable" error on unit tests

I’m getting the error:

The referenced project ‘{project}’ is a self-contained executable. A self-contained executable cannot be referenced by a non self-contained executable.

In my scenario, there’s a project which is indeed self-contained, and a unit test project which depends on that project and tests it.

This error seems to imply that self-contained projects should not have unit tests, which can’t be the case.

An easy workaround is to set <ValidateExecutableReferencesMatchSelfContained>false</ValidateExecutableReferencesMatchSelfContained>, but it seems like the validation is incorrect in this scenario.

For reference, the self-contained project looks something like:

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Web">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFramework>net5.0</TargetFramework>
    <DeployOnBuild>true</DeployOnBuild>
    <RuntimeIdentifier>linux-x64</RuntimeIdentifier>
    <SelfContained>true</SelfContained>
    <PublishSingleFile>true</PublishSingleFile>
  </PropertyGroup>
</Project>

and the unit test project:

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFramework>net5.0</TargetFramework>
    <RuntimeIdentifier>linux-x64</RuntimeIdentifier>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <ProjectReference Include="..\TheSelfContainedProject\TheSelfContainedProject.csproj" />
  </ItemGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.NET.Test.Sdk" Version="16.8.3" />
    <PackageReference Include="MSTest.TestAdapter" Version="2.1.2" />
    <PackageReference Include="MSTest.TestFramework" Version="2.1.2" />
  </ItemGroup>
</Project>

[dsplaisted]

This should be fixed with #17594, but until then you can work around it by setting ValidateExecutableReferencesMatchSelfContained to false in your unit test projects.

[jamers99]

@dsplaisted after putting in the recommended workaround we get this error:

C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\6.0.100-preview.6.21355.2\Microsoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets(4969,5): error MSB3030: Could not copy the file "C:\Repos\eagle\Features\ModelDesigner\ModelDesignerGenerator\obj\Debug\apphost.exe" because it was not found. [C:\Repos\eagle\Features\ModelDesigner\ModelDesignerGenerator\ModelDesignerGenerator.csproj]

Full output logs

PS C:\Repos\eagle> dotnet publish ".\Features\Sample\Sample.Server\Sample.Server.csproj" -r win-x86 -bl
Microsoft (R) Build Engine version 17.0.0-preview-21329-01+1b7661f36 for .NET
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\6.0.100-preview.6.21355.2\MSBuild.dll -bl -distributedlogger:Microsoft.DotNet.Tools.MSBuild.MSBuildLogger,C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\6.0.100-preview.6.21355.2\dotnet.dll*Microsoft.DotNet.Tools.MSBuild.MSBuildForwardingLogger,C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\6.0.100-preview.6.21355.2\dotnet.dll -maxcpucount -property:RuntimeIdentifier=win-x86 -restore -target:Publish -verbosity:m .\Features\Sample\Sample.Server\Sample.Server.csproj
  Determining projects to restore...
  All projects are up-to-date for restore.
  You are using a preview version of .NET. See: https://aka.ms/dotnet-core-preview
  You are using a preview version of .NET. See: https://aka.ms/dotnet-core-preview
  You are using a preview version of .NET. See: https://aka.ms/dotnet-core-preview
  You are using a preview version of .NET. See: https://aka.ms/dotnet-core-preview
  You are using a preview version of .NET. See: https://aka.ms/dotnet-core-preview
  You are using a preview version of .NET. See: https://aka.ms/dotnet-core-preview
  You are using a preview version of .NET. See: https://aka.ms/dotnet-core-preview
  You are using a preview version of .NET. See: https://aka.ms/dotnet-core-preview
  Eagle.Core -> C:\Repos\eagle\Core\Eagle.Core\bin\Debug\Eagle.Core.dll
  Eagle.Framework.Server.DataUpgrade -> C:\Repos\eagle\Framework\Server\Persistence\DatabaseUpgrade\Eagle.Framework.Server.DataUpgrade\bin\Debug\Eagle.Framework.Server.DataUpgrade.dll
  Eagle.Framework.Server.DataCleanup -> C:\Repos\eagle\Framework\Server\Persistence\DatabaseUpgrade\Eagle.Framework.Server.DataCleanup\bin\Debug\Eagle.Framework.Server.DataCleanup.dll
  Eagle.Framework.Common -> C:\Repos\eagle\Framework\Common\Eagle.Framework.Common\bin\Debug\Eagle.Framework.Common.dll
  TEST.FlaggedFeature -> C:\Repos\eagle\Output\Debug\Sample\Sample\TEST.FlaggedFeature.dll
  Eagle.Framework.Common.Diagnostics -> C:\Repos\eagle\Framework\Common\Eagle.Framework.Common.Diagnostics\bin\Debug\Eagle.Framework.Common.Diagnostics.dll
  EagleServer.Common -> C:\Repos\eagle\Framework\Server\EagleServer.Common\bin\Debug\EagleServer.Common.dll
  Eagle.Framework.Server.Core -> C:\Repos\eagle\Framework\Server\Eagle.Framework.Server.Common\bin\Debug\Eagle.Framework.Server.Core.dll
  ModelDesignerDataExchanger -> C:\Repos\eagle\Features\ModelDesigner\ModelDesignerDataExchanger\bin\Debug\ModelDesignerDataExchanger.dll
  Eagle.Framework.Server.ConflictResolver -> C:\Repos\eagle\Framework\Server\Eagle.Framework.Server.ConflictResolver\bin\Debug\net5\Eagle.Framework.Server.ConflictResolver.dll
  PropertyMetaDataCache -> C:\Repos\eagle\Framework\Server\Persistence\PropertyMetaDataCache\bin\Debug\net5.0\PropertyMetaDataCache.dll
  Eagle.Framework.Server.SelfUpdate -> C:\Repos\eagle\Framework\Server\Eagle.Framework.Server.SelfUpdate\bin\Debug\Eagle.Framework.Server.SelfUpdate.dll
  ModelDesignerHelper -> C:\Repos\eagle\Features\ModelDesigner\ModelDesignerHelper\bin\Debug\ModelDesignerHelper.dll
C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\6.0.100-preview.6.21355.2\Microsoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets(4969,5): error MSB3030: Could not copy the file "C:\Repos\eagle\Features\ModelDesigner\ModelDesignerGenerator\obj\Debug\apphost.exe" because it was not found. [C:\Repos\eagle\Features\ModelDesigner\ModelDesignerGenerator\ModelDesignerGenerator.csproj]
PS C:\Repos\eagle>

Binlog: binlog.zip

Note that ModelDesignerGenerator is a exe type.